Hubbell: Reynolds should be more outspoken about harmful tariffs

'We need to defend Iowans, not defend the president,' he says

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell (left) visits with Mark Tinnermeier on Tinnermeier’s rural Jasper County farm on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, near Newton. Hubbell said during the visit that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds needs to be more outspoken about the impact tariffs and trade wars are having on Iowa agriculture.

NEWTON — More liberal use of the bully pulpit and more trade missions to neighbors of the United States — that’s how Fred Hubbell would help Iowa farmers hurting as a result of federal trade policy, the Democratic candidate for governor said Wednesday.

Hubbell visited a rural Jasper County farm Wednesday as part of a campaign tour to discuss how agricultural issues, in particular a budding trade war, are threatening Iowa farmers’ bottom lines.

New tariffs enacted by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has led other nations to retaliate in kind, causing crop and livestock prices to decline sharply. Pork and soybean, two of Iowa’s top exports, have been particularly impacted.

After chatting with Jasper County farmer Mark Tinnermeier, Hubbell told reporters he thinks Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, his opponent in the November election, is not doing enough to help Iowa farmers who are feeling the pinch of the federal trade dispute.

“We need to step up and defend farmers and defend Iowans, not defend the president,” Hubbell said.

“Our governor, whoever the governor is, is elected to represent Iowans. And I think the governor should be doing a lot more to be making it clear how harmful this is in our state.”

Hubbell, if elected this November, said he would be more vocal about the impact the trade dispute is having on Iowa farmers. He would attempt to create a coalition of farm-state governors to implore the Trump administration to reconsider its trade policy.

Hubbell would make more trade trips to Canada and Mexico to ensure continued working relationships with those countries, he said.

“I’m happy to go out to Washington and try to meet with as many people as possible,” Hubbell said. “Let’s go out there and let’s hold press conferences and let’s talk about how harmful it is.”

Reynolds, via an emailed response through her campaign spokesman, said she has led trade missions across the world to promote Iowa products and has traveled to the nation’s capital “to defend free and fair trade.”

“Nobody wins in a trade war, and the administration knows where we stand,” said Reynolds, who was with Vice President Mike Pence in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday. “Our farmers know I am fighting for them because of where I come from and what I have done. Unlike my opponent, I take action.”

Hubbell said he is learning from farmers as he crisscrosses the state. Republicans have charged that Hubbell, a retired businessman, lacks a sufficient background in agriculture to be Iowa governor.

“It’s a learning process, and at the end of the day, (farming) is a business like any other business,” Hubbell said, adding he served 12 years on the board of Pioneer Hi-Bred, now DuPont Pioneer.

“You have a product and you have markets, and you have to sell someplace and somebody else wants to take your markets away,” he said.

“It’s a competitive, worldwide market,” he said. “You’ve got input costs, and you’ve got revenues and you try to balance those. You have to decide when to sell and when to buy equipment. Those are just typical business issues.”